AUSTIN, Texas — Border Patrol agents in El Paso used force to drive a group of Venezuelans out of the United States and back toward the Mexican city of Ciudad Juarez in a tense scene on Monday, according to a new report.
Video taken by the El Paso Times on Monday afternoon showed more than 30 federal law enforcement officials walking back a larger group of noncitizens who had illegally crossed the border and approached agents outside a station under the international bridge.
El Paso Times photojournalist J. Omar Ornelas claimed on Twitter that he had witnessed agents fire “rubber bullets” at one person in an effort to push the group back across the canal and into Mexico. Video shared by Ornelas did not show the events that precipitated the incident, which federal authorities told the Washington Examiner came after an assault on an agent.
A U.S. Customs and Border Protection spokesman later said one illegal immigrant in the group struck an agent with a flagpole, prompting agents to take action. The spokesman said agents responded by using pepper balls — not rubber bullets.
“On October 31, at approximately 12:20 p.m., a group of Venezuelan nationals attempted to illegally enter the United States while protesting along the Rio Grande River International Boundary near downtown El Paso,” CBP wrote in a statement. “One of the protesters assaulted an agent with a flag pole, at which time agents responded by initiating crowd control measures. These measures included the use of the authorized less-lethal force pepperball launching system. The crowd then dispersed and returned to Mexico.”
Customs and Border Patrol agents fire rubber bullets on migrants as migrants retreat on the north bank of the Rio Grande in El Paso, Texas. pic.twitter.com/3dvzFo458R
— J. Omar Ornelas (@fotornelas) October 31, 2022
In October, the Biden administration announced that Venezuelan immigrants would no longer be apprehended and released into the U.S., as has been the case for most immigrants over the past 20 months. Venezuelans would be sent back to Mexico.
The move has frustrated Venezuelans who fled the Maduro regime but had not yet made it to the U.S. or were denied asylum in another country.
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The group that approached agents Monday carried a large flag as they approached agents below the bridge, which is where the Biden administration has told asylum-seekers to seek refuge from federal customs officers.
The American Civil Liberties Union is demanding an investigation and called the agents’ actions against immigrants the latest example of “rights violations and abuses carried out by the CBP.”
“This footage is highly alarming,” Jonathan Blazer, director of border strategies at ACLU, said in a statement. “People seeking asylum on U.S. soil should be screened for protection, not pushed back, especially through use of force.”
Blazer said the Biden administration “must end its failed attempts to scare people out of crossing into the U.S. through tactics that have led to unnecessary death and suffering, and restore a humane process for seeking asylum.”
